Eagles Throw It Together at Last Minute

Two passes. One awesome, flabbergasting catch; one despairing, stunning misfire.

On fourth and 26, with his team down to its last play of the season, Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb went brave, went over the middle, went right to “First Down” Freddie Mitchell and saved a game.

On first and 10 in overtime, daring Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre went curiously deep, threw far over the head of his receiver and right to Eagle Brian Dawkins.

Five plays later David Akers kicked a 31-yard field goal with 10:12 left in overtime to give the Eagles a 20-17 victory that sent them to the NFC championship game for the third year in a row.

On Sunday the Eagles (13-4) will play the Carolina Panthers here at Lincoln Financial Field. The winner goes to the Super Bowl.

The Packers (11-7) will have gone home wondering.

Wondering what happened to a 14-0 lead. Wondering how they failed to score a touchdown on fourth and goal from the Philadelphia one-yard line at the end of the first half.

Wondering why they didn’t go for it on fourth and about a foot from the Eagle 41 with 2:30 left in regulation when they had been running well all day, with Ahman Green gaining 156 yards and the team running for 210 and the Eagle defensive front on its heels.

The Packers will have gone home rubbing their eyes, trying to believe they didn’t see McNabb rear back and heave the ball from his 26-yard line when there was only 1:12 left and, as Philadelphia Coach Andy Reid said, “the odds for us were pretty slim.” Or Mitchell, the flamboyant former UCLA receiver, rise up and grab the ball even though he knew he would be hit hard and even though he wasn’t sure he had gone far enough.

But Mitchell went just far enough, the play covering 28 yards to the Packer 46, and 62 seconds later Akers kicked a game-tying 37-yard field goal.

And most of all, the Packers will wonder how they could have stopped McNabb.

The Eagle quarterback threw for 248 yards, rushed for 107 and accounted for all but 57 of Philadelphia’s 363 net yards.

“I love watching Donovan,” Reid said, “just like everybody does.”

It seemed as if the Packers had this game won.

They had scored twice in the first quarter to put a temporary lid on the exuberant Eagle fans.

They had taken the lead with 10:22 left in the game on a 21-yard Ryan Longwell field goal to end a drive highlighted by a spectacular throw and catch for a gain of 44 yards from Favre to Javon Walker. They had taken the clock from 7:58 to 2:30 left when they reached that critical fourth down at the Eagle 41.

Packer Coach Mike Sherman said he was “absolutely not” thinking about the goal-line play with two minutes left in the first half when Green couldn’t punch it into the end zone and make the Green Bay lead 21-7.

But when everybody was expecting Green to run again, Sherman chose to have the Packers try to draw the Eagles offside. The Eagles didn’t jump so the Packers took a delay-of-game penalty and punted, Josh Bidwell’s kick sailing into the end zone, allowing the Eagles to start from their 20.

And no one would have second-guessed anything if McNabb weren’t impossibly magic, if Mitchell weren’t incredibly confident.

Packer cornerback Mike McKenzie said he had only one thought at that moment, fourth and 26, time running out.

“I was thinking Super Bowl,” McKenzie said. “I was thinking of going to the NFC championship game. Yet somehow, some way, they were able to pull it off. The fate of our football team was in our hands and we couldn’t seal it.”

Different thoughts ran through the mind of Mitchell, who came out of the Philadelphia locker room wearing a full-length fur coat. His choice of outerwear was as dramatic as his big play.

“I thought I’d make the catch,” Mitchell said.

Said Reid: “Compliments to Freddie. What a great job he did on that catch. And compliments to Donovan for trusting him and shooting it in there.”

Before he was even asked a question Mitchell spoke about McNabb. “We don’t need fate, we have Five,” Mitchell said, calling McNabb by his jersey number. “Donovan has been our leader, we have stuck behind him through thick and thin and this shows his character. This all stems from Donovan.”

The Eagles’ first touchdown came in the second quarter on a seven-yard pass play from McNabb to Duce Staley. A play earlier, McNabb connected with Todd Pinkston for a 45-yard gain.

And it was McNabb’s hooking up with Pinkston again, for a 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, that tied the score at 14-14. McNabb had needed to scramble out of the pocket and Pinkston had needed to run laps in the end zone, staying inside the borders.

“I was able to just stay inbounds and stay alive,” Pinkston said. “I was able to stay inbounds and Donovan was able to hit me. That’s about it.”

Favre had played for three weeks while mourning the death of his father. He ran off the field after Akers’ final field goal looking dazed. Favre had talked to some Packers about how he was dreading this off-season. He knew the reality of his father’s death would settle in.

“Don’t blame this on Brett,” McKenzie said. “Give him credit for us being here at all.”